Australian Studies Association of Japan Annual Conference
9-10 June 2018
The University of Tsukuba
High-profile Australian and Japanese academics discuss contemporary issues of interest to both Australians and Japanese at Japan’s leading Australian studies conference. The first session on Economic Geography will analyse the recent trends in Australian demography and logistics. With a group of Japanese geographers, the Australian Studies Association of Japan (ASAJ) will invite Professor Emeritus Kevin O’Connor from the University of Melbourne as a guest speaker.
The second session on Indigenous affairs will mark the 30th anniversary of Australia’s Bicentenary celebrated in 1988, which marked 200 years since the arrival of the First Fleet in Sydney. To reflect on the history and historiography of the Indigenous and non-Indigenous relationship, ASAJ will organise a panel of six Japanese leading scholars from the fields of history, anthropology and art.
ASAJ was established in 1989 and is comprised of dedicated Japanese academics who organise a bilingual annual Australian Studies Conference. In the past, the Conference has hosted sessions about the Japan-Australia Joint Declaration of Security Cooperation, Indigenous Australian tourism, carbon and mining tax reforms, and many more.
This program is supported by the Australian Government through the Australia-Japan Foundation of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
Main sessions of Day 1;
1400-1445 – Diplomatic Interventions: Aboriginal Performance on the International Stage in the 21st Century
by Prof. Helen Gilbert, Visiting Professor of Australian Studies, University of Tokyo
1500-1730 – The Past and Present of Australian Studies from Japanese Perspectives “Contemporary Transformation of Australian Economic Geography”
Panelists:
– Prof. Kevin O’Connor, University of Melbourne
– Prof. Shinsuke Minamide, Otemon Gakuin University
– Prof. Michiyo Yoshida, Wakayama University
– Prof. Jun Tsutsumi, University of Tsukuba
Chair: Prof. Toru Taniuchi, University of Tokyo
Main session of Day 2;
1400-1650 – The Past and Present of Australian Studies from Japanese Perspectives “Reconsidering 1988: Indigenous Affairs since the Bicentenary”
Panelists:
– Prof. Ritsuko Kurita, Hiroshima University
– Prof. Hiroshi Tsuda, University of Tsukuba
– Prof. Tomoko Ichitani, Seinan Gakuin University
Discussants:
– Prof. Sachiko Kubota, Kobe University
– Prof. Takao Fujjikawa, Osaka University
– Prof. Megumi Kato, Meisei University